Humphreys talks in-state possibilities

Portland (Ore.) Central Catholic defensive end Connor Humphreys is turning some heads this spring as one of the top prospects out of the state of Oregon.

Connor Humphreys stands out as one of the top athletes from Oregon in the class of 2014. The 6-foot-4, 265-pound defensive end has already racked up several offers and shows no signs of slowing down during the evaluation period.

As a top in-state prospect, Humphreys naturally has interest in both Oregon and Oregon State, though the Beavers are the only school to offer him so far. Humphreys did participate at Oregon's junior day back in April and enjoyed meeting with defensive line coach Ron Aiken and head coach Mark Helfrich.

"There wasn't very many juniors there, so it was pretty personal with the coaches," Humphreys said.

Aiken made an appearance at Central Catholic recently according to Humphreys, but contact was limited between them. While he hopes things will progress further with Oregon when he participates at the NFTC in Eugene on June 9, if things fall into place, Humphreys said he could stay in-state at either school.

"If everything goes right, I could see myself playing in-state," Humphreys said. "Growing up watching the Civil War, that was something that I dreamed of playing in."

Humphreys is adamant, like all high school prospects, about finding the right program for him. He cited everything from how a university runs its program to coaching and playing time as factors that will go into his decision making process that could come as early as the beginning of next season.

"I'm going to take a lot of unofficial visits this summer, and maybe pick one or two of my favorite schools, and take officials to those in early Septembe, and commit sometime in September or October," Humphreys said.

Humphreys wants to get his decision making out of the way so that he can focus on finishing his career at Central Catholic in a big way.

"I think committing earlier is going to make my senior year much easier and make me more focused on a state championship game," Humphries said. "That's one of my other goals: as a senior, win the state championship."

Humphreys, a recent selection to the U.S. Army All-American Game to be held next January, said he took inspiration from former Central Catholic defensive standouts Alex Balducci (Oregon) and Brennan Scarlett (Cal) to achieve his goal of being named to the prestigious game.

"I wrote it on a piece of paper and hung in on my wall," Humphries said. "That's been a huge goal of mine for a long time."